Forum Activity for @tom-mcdonald

Great find, Dana! Just curious: what do you figure this is really worth once restored?

LOL Patty I can always find more room for another dulcimer! I'll post pics tomorrow before I take it to Berea to Warrens shop.

Patty from Virginia said:

Dana, good for you! Put them on the ceiling. After all, Fred Astaire danced on the ceiling. I can't wait to see the pictures

Thats whats wrong with this one JH the sides have come loose. but no cracks or splits. Rest of the body is in really good shape. Looks like the glue just dried out.

John Henry said:

Chuckle, Robin, how you doing, I might have guessed you would come back at me (I have actualy done a refurb on a Ledford , JohnS purchased a very beat up instrument, reminiscent of one of Charlie Chaplins shoes, bad case of glue failure for some reason, it looked like hide glue to me ?)

John

Dana, good for you! Put them on the ceiling. After all, Fred Astaire danced on the ceiling. I can't wait to see the pictures

Chuckle, Robin, how you doing, I might have guessed you would come back at me (I have actualy done a refurb on a Ledford , JohnS purchased a very beat up instrument, reminiscent of one of Charlie Chaplins shoes, bad case of glue failure for some reason, it looked like hide glue to me ?)

John

LOL sorry ya'll but I think it's a keeper, John I'll just have Jimmy boy build me another wall! Or I might start putting them on the ceiling.:)

I offer $77 and John Henry will do the refurb for free!

John Henry said:

$76, and I'll do the refurb for free?

an onlooker

$76, and I'll do the refurb for free?

an onlooker

Hey, Dana, I'll give you $75 sight unseen! Hope to see pictures of your new treasure!

Huh ! for starters that thar wall ain't big enough to take more, and in any case the sun/light will only aid the timber to bleach its true colour a tad, and just what in tarnation is that Jim doing letting you run riot in such a fashion, time you came to heel gal! (hasty signing off !!!)

Good on you

John

Lordy, Lordy.... You just getting too many of those, Dana. Pass 'em around

LOL Don't choke John H. What can I sayI'm just a ledford magnet. LOL

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John

Well while crusing Craigs list last week...I saw a dulcimer that caught my eye. Looked like a Ledford headstock and it had diamond sound holes and staple frets. Called the number and it was a pickers site that buys out estates and resales. I asked if they knew who made the dulcimer and they said no. I asked how much they wanted and they said 60 bucks, so I told them I would take it.

I got it in the mail today, they failed to tell me the glue had come loose from the sides and the bridge was missing but other wise it's in good shape, just needed a clean up. I looked inside and couldn't find a name anywhere, so I was dissappointed. But still it looked just like my other ledfords except it is about a inch shorter and the tail piece is a litte different. so decided to try again to find a name. Got my book light out and ran it down the sound hole and guess what....there it was in pencil Built by Homer Ledford Winchester KY Number 1163!!!! For 60 bucks and 10 dollars shipping. I'm going to run it down to Warren May in Berea and see if he will restore it for me. I LOVE a bargain.

Thanks for all the comments, I have now amended the original caption with the picture!

John

One difference between the function of a 'normal' capo and a 'reverse' capo is- a normal capo merely presses the string down to the fret, so the notes are governed by where your frets are. A reverse capo actually becomes a sort of fret, independent of the real frets. It can be positioned for example in the location of a 1.5 fret and give you that note even if you do not have a 1.5 fret on your instrument. That is an interesting advantage. Another advantage to a reverse capo is that by its very nature it can be positioned under one, two, or all strings- thus being very versatile compared to a 'normal' capo that presses down onto the strings. This is made possible partly because the reverse capo is automatically anchored firmly by the strings that run over it, whereas a normal capo has to have some sort of anchoring clamp that can hold firmly- not easy on an instrument with no neck, as we all know!

Thanks Robin and John,

That is a helpful distinction so mineshould clearly be described as an 'inbuilt partial capo'!

I now understand that the 'reverse' of a reverse capo applies in the vertical plane i.e. under rather thanabovethe strings as opposed to the horizontal planeofi.e. coming from the reverse side of the dulcimer which was how I originally mistakenly interpreted it. I am very used to partially capoing a guitar but dulcimer capos of any sortare newer to me -I havea dulcimer capo proper as well but have not found that I use it very much.

I see that Peggy Seeger has a picture down the page at http://www.peggyseeger.com/about/whats-new/2007-2008 showing herTerry Hennessy Dulcimer with two capos; one of which, on the drones,("a movable capo the smaller of the two protrusions over the first fret") may besimilar to mine although you can't see the slide. The same picture also shows another sort ofpartial capo on the melody strings ("a latch capo, that stops the string at the first fret until you press it and then hey presto! you've released the string. Perfect for 'modal' tunes") I have never seen one like that either.

Best wishes,

John

Robin Clark said:

Hi John,

To my mind, the photo is not of a 'reverse capo' or 'false nut' but a 'partial capo'. The capo in the picture works the same as a normal capo - it holds down the strings behind a fret. A false nut/reverse capo is independant of any frets and will work on older dulcimers with no frets under the middle and bass strings.

The most useful positions to capo the dronesis the first fret on the bass string from 1-5-5 tuning to give 5-1-1 tuning. This enables a switch from key of D ionian tunes D-A-A to key of A mixolidian tunes E-A-A - lots of popular Appalachian tunes fall into these two keys/modes when played at sessions. The capo in the photo would facilitate this switch nicely. Also a retuning of the melody string from A to d would give E-A-d using the partial capo - so you would have key of A dorian - another very popular key/mode fo Appalachian tunes. Occasionally I will use a reverse nut at fret 3 from D-d-d tuning to give G-d-d (key of G ionian). I could stay in D-d-d (5-5-5) but lifting the bass to G (1-5-5) gives a very bright sound which suits a lot of the popular key of G Appalachian tunes.

Being able to have the partial capo in the photo work on the bass string at the frist fret and third fret would be an advantage for fast tuning changes at old time sessions. However, it looks like the rail is at a slope in the photo to increase the downforce as the capo arm is slid forward. This may cause a problem if trying to use this design over a span of 3 frets. I'm sure though that you could come up with a design that would work.

Robin

Hello John,

I see Robin has just covered most of this, but as I have it written ...

A normal capo usually refers to one that presses down on the string, a reverse capo pushes up on the string. In either case the object is to move the position of the nut.

With a normal capo this is done by pressing down behind one of the frets, in which case that fret becomes the new nut.
With a reverse capo (e.g. a toothpick) this is placed under the string at one of the frets and itself becomes a false nut.

Normal capos extend right across the fretboard and press down on all strings, this is not always what you want, in which case using a reverse capo allows you to create a new nut on just one or two of the strings, rather than all three.
The main difference is that a reverse capo only acts on the drone(s) and allows access to the whole of the melody string, something that you won't get with a normal capo.

So strictly speaking what you have is a normal capo acting on a single string. It doesn't really matter what you call it, it's getting the mechanics behind it that counts.

john

Hi John,

To my mind, the photo is not of a 'reverse capo' or 'false nut' but a 'partial capo'. The capo in the picture works the same as a normal capo - it holds down the strings behind a fret. A false nut/reverse capo is independant of any frets and will work on older dulcimers with no frets under the middle and bass strings.

The most useful positions to capo the dronesis the first fret on the bass string from 1-5-5 tuning to give 5-1-1 tuning. This enables a switch from key of D ionian tunes D-A-A to key of A mixolidian tunes E-A-A - lots of popular Appalachian tunes fall into these two keys/modes when played at sessions. The capo in the photo would facilitate this switch nicely. Also a retuning of the melody string from A to d would give E-A-d using the partial capo - so you would have key of A dorian - another very popular key/mode fo Appalachian tunes. Occasionally I will use a reverse nut at fret 3 from D-d-d tuning to give G-d-d (key of G ionian). I could stay in D-d-d (5-5-5) but lifting the bass to G (1-5-5) gives a very bright sound which suits a lot of the popular key of G Appalachian tunes.

Being able to have the partial capo in the photo work on the bass string at the frist fret and third fret would be an advantage for fast tuning changes at old time sessions. However, it looks like the rail is at a slope in the photo to increase the downforce as the capo arm is slid forward. This may cause a problem if trying to use this design over a span of 3 frets. I'm sure though that you could come up with a design that would work.

Robin

I had started this as personal messages to which John Shaw has helpfully responded, but I thought if I made it a discussion there might be others who are interested or might contribute.

Fitted to a dulcimer I recently bought on ebay, I found what I now know from John is an inbuilt 'reverse capo'- see my picture . I am finding I rather like it - it makes a very quick change from D Ionian to E dorian mode possible without fiddling around to add anything extra. It slides a bit like a banjo 5th string capo except that it is hardly noticeable - it wasn't visible or mentioned on the original ebay picture/description.

The internet references I can find to reverse capos mainly seem to be referring to a 'false nut' type, i.e. something going under the string at the fret lifting the string up (see Robin Clark's reply in an earlier discussion ) although I have also seen olderrefernces to onewith a spring clip which fits into a hole in the fingerboard. However I can't find any description of one like the one on this dulcimer and wonder if it was homemade or was indeed marketed for the purpose. If homemade it is very nicely done.

I may do some experimenting with a longer slide on the side, maybe to include the 3rd fret and/or maybe extending across the middle string too. However, is anyone aware of someone makes them?

John

I'm a complete beginner of a month as well. I enjoy noodling around. You'd be surprised at all the variations of that cabbage song!

Noodling around - it's my favorite past time. I particularly do it when I'm tuned DAc. Something about aeolian that just leads into improvising.

Messing around? It's the way to learn, compose and relax. Not having a "plan," just letting yourunconscious mind take you where it wants you to go. Sometimes it's a thing of beauty; sometimes it's something else. In either case it's what I need at the moment.

I learned the guitar the same way when I was a kid. Just sat around playing notes seeing where they lead, how they sound and if they can be made to fit together.

Love it!

yep same here ....my guitars gather dust very well

every time I play. I after playing a fewsongs I tend to just noodle around. same thing with my other instrument.

Yep-all the time. Watch TV with it on my lap and mute/play during commercial breaks. Get hours of noodling in this way. Unless I happen to be watching PBS. Also, the captions are very nice; mute, watch, play, repeat. Drives the Mrs. crazy.

Every time I pick up a dulcimer! That's how a person becomes intimately familiar with the instrument and where the sounds are coming from relative to each other.

Oh how I've missed my dulcimer these last few weeks. I've been real busy with other stuff, but last night I probably spent a good 2 hours with it.

So I played a few of my regulars and then I just started messing around. I do most everything on dulcimer just by ear so I don't think about chord names, note names or anything like that. I just sort of let my fingers do the walking and my pick do the talking. It was really fun and I found some neat sounding things happening.

Does anyone else find themselves doing this? I probably do this more on dulcimer than with any other instrument I play. Most times on banjo I'm trying to pick some phrase or song out, same with guitar, and now mando. But with the dulcimer I find myself just sort of wandering around and it's fun.

I know what you're talking about, Robin. I don't, as a rule, play Stinson's #2 by myself-- usually play it with someone who adds those changes in part B and the two styles blend nicely.

Robin Clark said:

I was looking at the music for thistune last week as a potential one for playing in noter drone. I thought it was a little 'plain' without the modern Celtic chord changes in Part B, which seem to be the#2 tunes signature. I think I may have a go at adding back some ornamentation to Part B to make it a little more of a 'tune' for noter drone- If it works out perhaps I'll record it and post it here as John Stinson #3

I was looking at the music for thistune last week as a potential one for playing in noter drone. I thought it was a little 'plain' without the modern Celtic chord changes in Part B, which seem to be the#2 tunes signature. I think I may have a go at adding back some ornamentation to Part B to make it a little more of a 'tune' for noter drone- If it works out perhaps I'll record it and post it here as John Stinson #3

That's an interesting link. I've often wondered about that myself.

Thanks Robin!

Dave, there might be a lead or two in the following link in which some history could be tracked down:

http://www.bartonpara.com/discog/missouri/stinson2.htm

Does anyone know of any history behind the tune John Stinson #2?

Wow great! I could only find Musicks Delite. Guess I have to keep hunting.

Ok, after some very diligent searching I managed to find and purchase "Nonesuch," "Musick's Delight," and "The Dulcimer Archive;" this last one from 1997, an autographed 1st edition (one has to wonder if they sold enough for a 2nd edition.) They weren't cheap, but, hey, it's only money. I have received "Nonesuch" and "Archives" and it's interesting to see the changes in the arrangements over the 20 years between them. I've been having fun trying to get them halfway right (maybe.) His original pieces are quite the lesson in both composition and arrangement as well as in playing.

Jon, that's the album I have. Glad you got a book. I haven't been able to find one. Not only Ionian tuning but no 6 1/2 fret either. Love his arrangements as well as his playing.

I see what you mean on his tabs. Seems to be all there except for actual notes. Well just have to pick up the melody from his albums or another source. He is definitely a good excuse to get back into Ionian tuning though. I found a copy ofMusicks Delight on the Dulcimer online and ordered. I have his album Gentle sound of the Dulcimer. It really impressed me.

John Henry, that's the way his early tabs in DPN were as well. Some of them are very hard to read